KHENPO
TASHI GYALTSEN was born in 1970 into a farming
family in Nangchen in Kham, Tibet. At age thirteen he
decided to become a monk and received his novice monastic
vows from Drubchen Karma Norbu Rinpoche at Raktrul Monastery,
the monastery of Bardor Tulku Rinpoche.
At fourteen, over the course of one year, he received
the complete empowerments and reading transmissions
of the Rinchen Terdzo (Treasury of Precious
Terma) from Gyalmo Tulku Rinpoche of Gonzhab Monastery
and Chime Tulku of Benchen Monastery. Following this
he spent one year in Mahakala retreat in the Protector
Shrine Room at Raktrul.

Subsequently, he travelled to Chamdo to study the manuals
on Dzogchen and Mahamudra practice and receive instructions
from the renowned Kagyu master Khenpo Karma Tseten Rinpoche.
Khenpo Tashi also received instruction on Madhyamaka and other
philosophical schools. At Willow Mountain Retreat he spent
a year and a half studying the traditions of sutra and mantra
in addition to the classic Buddhist sciences.

At nineteen, he embarked on seven years of study at Arig
Shedra in Amdo with Khenchen Arig Padma Tsewang, focusing
on the sutrayana and mantrayana treatises of the Nyingma school
as well as those of the Kagyu and Sakya schools. He received
profound

commentary on Dzogchen from Khenchen Munsel and then,
for three and a half years, studied under Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok
at Larung Gar, his dharma encampment located in Serthar in
lower Kham. At the age of 27, Khenpo Tashi went to Drepung
Monastery in Lhasa where he studied for two years in the Gelugpa
tradition.

In 1999 Khenpo Tashi left Tibet and at the invitation of His Eminence Tai Situ
Rinpoche, became a professor at the monastic college
of Palpung Sherab Ling in Himachal Pradesh, India. He
now serves as the dean of khenpos at Sherab Ling.

In late 2002, as a guest of the United States-based Raktrul
Foundation, he began a four-month tour of North America
to teach at Raktrul's dharma center in Red Hook, New York;
at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra; and at several Karma Thegsum
Choling centers in the U.S.